Israel

One thing I want to do before I die is visit Israel. And by visit, I mean spend quality time there, getting to know the area where Jesus lived and where He spoke, and where He loved people. I think that would be so neat. To visit Jerusalem, and see where He spoke in the Temple, to go to Him outside the camp - literally - and to visit Bethlehem, and to see Nazareth, and Cana, and the Jordan River. To soak it all in. To meditate, to pray, to read the Word. In that area - to love people in that area. Just to experience the culture there. The same culture Jesus lived in, which, granted, has changed, but which retains a lot of the heritage that Jesus experienced. I just want to grow closer to Him.

Christmas Eve

"For to us a Child is born,
to us a Son is given,
And the government shall be on His shoulder,
and His name shall be called,
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

"In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:8-11

Some Things

There are two things that I will be certain of in this life:

1) God is good, all the time.
2) God is holy, all the time.
3) God is love, all the time.


I am blessed beyond belief, and so much more than I deserve. Thanks be to God!


*Edit - by two things, I mean three things. 12.22.2007

The Immeasurable Wonders of a Holy God

"A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again," and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough...It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

-G. K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy

Live.

i was dead and alive,
she was like wine turned to water, then turned back to wine.
you can pour us out, we won't mind.
a scratch around the mouth of the glass,
my life is no longer mine...


if they ask you for a sign of the Father,
tell them it's movement, movement, movement!

Faithfulness.

The Lord is good. He is good. He is good, He is good, He is good. He is always good. Always, He is good. God is good! God is good. Is the Lord good? Yes, He is good. He is good, all the time. All the time, He is good. God is good. The Lord is good! He is good.

He is good.

Life Right Now.

Life right now is very overwhelming for me. I am unable to focus on important things, and my priorities seem to be slipping away. I hate the change that I am seeing in myself, but I feel powerless to stop it. This is my confession: I am afraid that I will never be free from what Christ has said He has freed all believers from.

I pray everyday for wisdom. For strength. For grace. For repentance.
But the good I want to do, I cannot do, and that which I do not want to do, this I keep on doing.
I am looking for progress, and I am sensing regress. Am I overly critical of myself?

I want passion, I want assurance, I want perfection.
I struggle so much. So much. I just want it to end. I just want this time in my life to be over with.

Honesty. Honesty seems to be all that I have left.

?

What would the world do, if instead of crossing its arms in judgment, the church opened its arms in love?

Yahweh.

I am weakness. He is Strength.
I am folly. He is Wisdom.
I am lost. He is Light.
I am man. He is God.
I am not. He is.

Bravery

"The brave dies perhaps two thousand deaths if he's intelligent. He simply doesn't mention them."


- Lieutenant Henry, A Farewell To Arms



an interesting quote. especially within the context of this story.

There is such a need for love in this world. A need for true love that emanates from the Father to us through the Son and spread to others by the power of the Holy Spirit. So many times I get frustrated with the way I am able to live, while others live on so much less and in such more trying conditions. Not that I do not consider my family, college and friends a blessing - but rather, that I so easily find myself taking them for granted.

I want to help others, I want to serve others and minister and be ministered to. I want to love others with my life and I want to try my very hardest to help them in their times of need. I want to make myself readily available as a servant of Christ. I want Him to be able to heal a little of their hurt through my life. I do not want to forget my brothers and sisters who are living abroad in the harsh wilderness of Africa, or in the chokehold of communism that silences voices that speak Truth, or among the cynical and pagan generations living in Western Europe.

I do not want to sit around. I want to go. I want to go now and help people. God grant me patience.

Marcos 10:45

"Porque ni aun el Hijo del hombre vino para que le sirvan, sino para servir y para dar su vida en rescate por muchos." Marcos 10:45

God's Faithfulness.

The Lord is so faithful to me. He is so good. I am constantly reminded of His goodness in everything that I experience - even the bad. And that brings me such encouragement and joy, that I cannot help be full of joy all the time! His love is so deep, and faithfulness so vast - I am truly blessed in knowing Him. And I only hope that my life can reflect my gratitude for his lavished love, goodness and faithfulness to me.

+

If God is for us, who can be against us?

From Meteora

This is an excerpt from my journal when I visited Meteora, Greece this past summer.

"Yesterday, at the monastery, there was a mural...depicting the thief on the cross that believed in Christ. He was leading all the other saints into heaven. What an interesting depiction. 'For the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.' I remembered the the thief's prayer on the cross: 'Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your Kingdom.' There is an earnestness in that prayer that the criminal spoke. He was literally put to death for his sins, yet by looking to Christ, he received redemption and heaven itself. And that is the story of every Christian. That is amazing." 5/27/07 [11:40am]





How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He would give His only Son,
And make a wretch His treasure.

Oxford, England

I found this post from another webpage(which I wrote while abroad). I do not know if I still agree with all that I've said, It's been a little over a month since writing this. (Wow, it is crazy to think that I was in Europe that recently.) However, I believe there is still some insight to be gained from reading these perceptions.


Oxford, England
Jul 16, 2007
Today is Monday. Today I have spent 75% of my waking hours researching the authority if the Roman Catholic Church and Papacy during the years 1000 CE - 1215 CE. The research is for a paper (one of five) that is due on Thursday. My Tutor, Rowena Archer, is an expert in Medieval History.

It is very special to be at Trinity College here in Oxford. I always had wanted to study at Oxford University since I was a child. And now, the Lord has graciously supplied this wonderful opportunity! Amazing. Difficult, challenging, intense, but a wonderful time nonetheless.

The students that I am studying and interacting with on a daily basis are from the University of Georgia. It is a constant learning experience here, socially as well as academically. The guys and girls here are just very open and live life (as far as I can discern) without manipulating it to conform to what others expect of them. Peer pressure (well, so far) is non-existent. Everyone is independent. I find it such a shame that at Grove City College so many kids either feign a lifestyle they do not believe in, or embrace the "rebellious side" - which even the unbelieving and lost students here would be turned off by. Not because it would be "too crazy," but because the "rebellious side" wouldn't be that rebellious at all.

I guess what I am trying to say is that, for the majority, kids here aren't attention-starved. And I feel that attention is one of the main motives for choosing a lifestyle / persona at GCC. Man, that is messed up.

Grace.

oh to grace how great a debtor,
daily i'm constrained to be.

Martin Luther

Thesis 1 of Luther's 95 Theses:



When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent," He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

The Pleasure of Heaven

Prudence: "Why wouldest thou go to Heaven?"

Samuel: "That I may see God and serve Him without weariness; that I may see Christ, and love Him everlastingly; that I may have that fullness of the Holy Spirit in me, that I can by no means here enjoy."

Love.

God. is. love.